DIY II, Pole & Rack

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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

Had great fun making the first round pole. So Im making a second one, this time with square aluminum pole and slider.

Lucky enough to have big metal recycling co. nearby and they 're less than half the price of aluminum square tubes available on the internet or local brand new stock.

First picture is the head with its cable retaining cotter keys. The nails are temp :grin:

and that's just a temporary hat I have on top(Folgers coffee can lid :grin: I actually injected expanding foam inside the top of the pole where the pulley is to prevent water intrusion.


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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:51 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

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I was gonna clamp the racks with square U-Bolts but cant find the right size I needed. I searched the internet with no joy. So what the heck, I just cut some angle bars and made them as the backing plates.

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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:04 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

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600 lb winch is an over kill but I cannot find anything smaller :-(
But for $17, not too bad. Boy its night and day difference pulling16 gourds up by hand even with compound pulleys! I know most of you know, Im just learning this. This winch makes it a lot easier taking it up and down :-)

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Base is 6 ft long. 3 ft in the ground(I wanted to make it 4 feet deep but I got tired of digging) :) and 3ft above supporting the main pole

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rack at about 6.5ft up resting on my anti head ache bolt :grin:


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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:05 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

my ANTI-HEAD ACHE bolt at 6 1/6ft. That's temp of course. Will replace with a quick disconnect pin.

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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

night fell. Ill add the rest of the gourds tomorrow. total of 20.

Plus Im still waiting for some cooling caps.

and of course the PM tenants :-(
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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:03 am, edited 3 times in total.
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GregB->AR
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:39 pm
Location: NorthWest/Arkansas

Enjoyed watching the process through the pictures
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birdy girl
Posts: 1179
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:09 am
Location: Mississippi/Dumas

Wow that looks great! You have a very open site. You should get martins soon.
Great pictures of your work.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

GregB->AR wrote:Enjoyed watching the process through the pictures
Thanks! I love pictures :)
Last edited by Carrera Mike on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

birdy girl wrote:Wow that looks great! You have a very open site. You should get martins soon.
Great pictures of your work.
Thanks! Still anxiously waiting.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

edited
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

More gourds to be hung.

Cooling caps coming in Monday.

Predator guard needs to go up.

Shims for the base next.

_____________________________

Suggestions and critiques for improvement are appreciated.

Thanks all!
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sully
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:49 pm
Location: Chrisney Indiana

Love your design. I had to use steel because we live on top a hill and the wind is brutal with our summer storms. Very nice.
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

sully wrote:Love your design. I had to use steel because we live on top a hill and the wind is brutal with our summer storms. Very nice.
Thanks! Good idea on the steel. They do have a lot steel square tubes at the recycling place I go to. ...and we do get strong winds here :-( maybe next time :-)
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SoIndyDon
Posts: 237
Joined: Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:45 am
Location: Indiana/Scottsburg

Nice work!
One tip to pass on - use up to twice the cable needed on your brake winch. You reduce the number of cranks to raise/lower the rack when there is a greater volume of cable on the winch. Reason - the larger diameter wraps more cable per crank on the winch than a small diameter of wound cable . Reducing from 60 cranks to 30 can make a real difference when raising and lowering the rack.
Fledged over 3,000 martins in beautiful southern Indiana since 1996.
Started 2 colonies and mentored 3 colonies with total fledged >4,000 martins into the world.
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DakotaLady
Posts: 654
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:06 pm
Location: Bismarck, ND

WOW...wonderful work. Gosh you put my concocted unit to shame.

You all have such restraint. I make everything as big as I can while you are limiting the rack to 20 gourds. It is smart as I'm certain more gourds = less troubles with wind.

Nice job! Thank you for sharing your step by step progress.
~Tangula~

2013 - 16 pair, 79 eggs, 71 fledged
2012 - 4 pair, 18 eggs, 18 fledged
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

DakotaLady wrote:WOW...wonderful work. Gosh you put my concocted unit to shame.

You all have such restraint. I make everything as big as I can while you are limiting the rack to 20 gourds. It is smart as I'm certain more gourds = less troubles with wind.

Nice job! Thank you for sharing your step by step progress.
DL,

Thanks :) I think this can handle 24 gourds. its only a 2" pole and 15ft all the way to the top.

Do you have a post with picture/s of your gourd sys? I like looking at pictures :)

Mike
Last edited by Carrera Mike on Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Phil Spitler
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:12 pm
Location: Chesapeake, VA

Mike how much was the pole and where did u get it at sims metal
When God gives you martins love and admire them when God gives you starlings shoot em
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

Phil Spitler wrote:Mike how much was the pole and where did u get it at sims metal
Hi Phil!

Got it from JR Metals by Cedar Rd.
1146 Alexander Lane, Chesapeake, VA. 23322
Phone: (757) 549-2066

the thickest they have is 2"X2" @ 21ft. They'll cut it to the size you like. its about $3.50/foot. Look for Jeff. I think he's the owner, tell him I sent you. He's a cool guy and might even give further discounts.
Im a licensed ham radio operator and I got most of my antenna tower materials from them long time ago when they were still in Portsmouth.
*Im not affiliated with him/them... just a happy customer.
I got the 2.5" slider(rack main tube) for the rack from onlinemetals.com

By the way, do you have main stay PMs now? Hope to visit your site one of these days. Your place is along the way where I fly my RC planes there by Balahack Rd. :)

Regards
Mike
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Carrera Mike
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:23 am
Location: Eastern TN, Claiborne County
Martin Colony History: Pls see signature

I cut the cooling caps by5/8" shorter for the hot air to escape faster :) OCD

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1/16" angle bar cut to size make perfect shims to rid of most of the play from the slider. I used JB weld to keep them in place Same shims for the base to the main pole.

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Full up

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Last edited by Carrera Mike on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Phil Spitler
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:12 pm
Location: Chesapeake, VA

I still have the same martin mike very slow but it's ok with this crazy weather I don't want anymore until it warms up lol
When God gives you martins love and admire them when God gives you starlings shoot em
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